On October 1st!! I still love you LA

Sisters - Sept 2012

Yikes!

Sisters - July 2012

Little Miss Getting Busy

Sisters - June 2012

Pippa's 1st Birthday

"I'm not amused," said Our Pippa of Perpetual Surprise.  

Laguna Beach

I love this photo of Thorne because it captures her in motion.  She's constantly in motion ready to run, hop, skip, jump, climb, slide, swing, or dance.  Anything to move her body!  I also love that the wave looks like a frilly blanket rather than water. 

We went on a mini-vacation to give us some space between Steve's teaching jobs.  Considering there was virtually no planning done, it turned out fantastic.  We left Sunday and headed south to the Orange County Museum of Art to view the Richard Diebenkorn retrospective.  His work is gorgeous so if you're in the area check it out.  On the way we stopped for noodles at Santouka - our favorite noodle joint.  We love their shio ramen with special pork - mmmmmm pork belly.  Definitely not for those with high blood pressure or gout.   We stayed in a hotel south of Dana Point for one night just to complete the feeling of getting away.  Thorne LOVED it - when we left the next morning for breakfast she kept saying she wanted to go back home meaning the hotel.  About a week later, Thorne was staring out our front windows and out of the blue said to herself, "I want to go to hotel."  I was the same way as a kid and well frankly even now I love staying in hotels.  The next day we hit one of the beaches just south of down town Laguna Beach that was sparsely populated being a Monday.  It was a perfect, sunny but breezy southern California day.  The kind that envelops you and reminds you why you never want to move. 

Laguna Beach

Pippa loved the beach.  She frolicked in the sand and got her toes tickled by the Pacific.  At one point I gave her a piece of seaweed/kelp to play with and then left her to take photos of Thorne.  I came back a few minutes later and the seaweed was gone.  I checked all around her and couldn't find it so I can only assume she consumed it!  At least it's full of vitamins. 

Chocolate

Thorne, Pippa, and I were at Huntington Gardens looking for the secret passageway from the Chinese garden to the newly refurbished Japanese Garden.  Our quest was met with success so we celebrated with a chocolate mousse at the cafe.  We were reflecting on how much we LOVE chocolate and I was telling her that her granddad and grandpop were chocolate fiends too.  She nodded knowingly as she's been the recipient of their chocolate treats.  I then told her that her Uncle JC did NOT love chocolate.  She looked at me incredulously and said, "That's horrible!"  Indeed.

Summer Has Started

Thorne came out of her room in this bathing suit, a fabric flower in her hair, and a string of pearls.  She then says to me, "Bye.  I have to party."

Sin is only attractive to the starved soul. -- Dallas Willard   I have one starved soul if you consider all the idols that can replace God in one's heart.  Fortunately, God is kindly relieving me of them one by one as they come to my attention. 

Sisters -April 2012

Sisters - April 2012

Cousins

Cousins

Pals in a Bucket

That Kid...

"Tell me to stop whining," suggests Thorne after witnessing my rising irritation in response to her persistent and repeated request for gum.

Authentic vs. Original

Sisters - March 2012

Pippa!

Lenten Reflection

Here we have another Craigie Aitchison crucifixion from 1964. I find this portrayal with the additional two spectre-like figures and washed out or muted color to be particularly haunting. Aitchison considered the crucifixion story of Jesus Christ to be the most "horrific story [he'd] ever heard." I've heard the story and experienced the Church season of Lent and Easter since I was on my mother's teat. As a result it lost it's horrific-ness for me a long time ago, if ever I experienced it. But I find Aitchison's portrayals powerful because he doesn't go gory or retell in realistic detail all the blood and the pain. Yet, his minimalism and spareness take me straight into the loneliness and agony Jesus must have felt on the cross. For someone like me who tends to be removed from her emotions, I appreciate Aitchison's ability to move me on a visceral level through his use of color and form. I want to feel the cross not just think about it. I want to be awakened to my very real need for a Savior who would voluntarily go to his death out of love for me.

Leisure Activity

Saturday Brunch

When we moved into our very first house, I thought every weekend would be made up of brunches and slow Saturdays. HA! I never knew I was such a romantic about life. But today, we did have a lovely brunch and it has been a slow, life giving Saturday.

The menu: mimosas, orange scones with butter/jam, bacon, Harney & Sons Florence tea, creamy eggs with basil and cheese, orange slices.

Impromptu Backyard Picnic

LENT -Craigie Aitchison - Pink Crucifixion

Part of my lenten practice this season is meditating on the crucifixion of Christ. I feel the distance between me and this historical, spiritual event that changed the world. I'm hoping that by meditating on various representations of crucifixions this season I'll enter into the pain and suffering of Christ a bit more than I'm used to. I tend to focus on Jesus' divinity at the expense of his humanity. But if I forget his humanity I forget the power his life, death, and resurrection has for me. I want to be mindful of my need to go through the cross with Jesus instead of around it for all the crap in my life. The further I get away from the cross, the further away I am from seeing my need and getting help to be free of all the pettiness, jealousy, anger, envy, self-righteousness, self-reliance (and the list could go on) that is manifest in my life. All I know is that I need Jesus if I'm to have life abundant.

First Swing

Pippa Swings

This is Pippa's second time on a swing. She balks at being put into the bucket, but as soon as she feels the motion she's enchanted. Thorne meanwhile is pushing a child (in a swing that is) she does not know just because she can.

Fat Tuesday!

Today is Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday as they call it in England. Pancakes are traditionally eaten because apparently fat, flour, milk, and eggs were among the items fasted from during Lent so it was a final bit of partying before Easter. So we feasted on pancakes to honor the tradition and mark the transition into Lent. Thorne added to the festivities by insisting upon finding the book If You Give a Pig a Pancake and showing us the pictures of that pig eating pancakes and syrup. A delightful morning.

Chinese New Year @ HG's

Attitude

Art & Noodles

On our way to the Culver City art galleries.

Steve had been to the Saturday night art openings and came back raving about the Brian Wils show at Nye & Brown. With an open Thursday, we trekked to the west side so I could see it too. I was not disappointed. Gorgeous works of art made with thread. Though Wils work isn't religious in the least, I thought his crosses would be perfect in a church especially his largest cross, which I don't have pictured here. They would make a beautiful backdrop to an altar. If we had the money, I'd have snapped up one of the smaller crosses. As it is they're only $1800 each.

Then it was on to Santouka, our favorite noodle joint, for a rich tasty bowl of shio ramen and premium pork. A fantastic family afternoon outing.

Sisters - January 2012

Blossoms Blooming at Huntington Gardens